Ridley Scott Says His ‘Alien: Covenant’ Sequel Will Begin Production in a Little More Than a Year

Alien: Covenant hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but that doesn’t mean that Ridley Scott can rest on his laurels just yet. With Prometheus, he expanded the Alien universe, and with Covenant he’s poised to expand it some more. That leaves plenty of room for his prospective slate of future Alien films, starting with his Covenant follow-up, which is currently untitled, but will be ready to film in a little more than a year.

Scott spoke to IGN about the Covenant sequel, for which he says, “we’re writing [a sequel] now, as we speak. I’ll be filming that within 14 months.” IGN also asked him whether he’d answer any of those questions about the Alien universe that have been left so ambiguous, especially in the ending of Prometheus. He responded: “That’s why I’m doing it, so you’re asking these questions.”

He also seems like he wants to call it Awakening, but that could also be a working title for now. He also refers to Neill Blomkamp’s scrapped Alien movie as Awakening, so that could just be a subtitle banging around in the Alien franchise vault before someone comes up with something better. Scott says that he wants to keep making these movies as long as he feels like they’re still good: “It’s good when it’s good. If the sequel’s good, then it’s worthwhile.”

Scott also has four more movies in the works right now, including Getty kidnapping drama All the Money in the World, Fox’s The Cartel, and a movie about World War II’s Battle of Britain. So, there’s no telling when we’ll get to see the next Alien film, but it sure sounds like Scott is fast-tracking it.